Santa Monica Police Arrest Man After Kicking Down Apartment Door

Thursday, 26 Dec 2013, 8:53:00 AM

Tim Broughton

A 25-year-old Santa Monica man was arrested on Saturday, Dec. 14 after refusing to open his apartment door.

Officers of the Santa Monica Police Department responded to the 900 block of Sixth Street at 12:30 am on this day after a woman had reported hearing some screaming coming from an apartment as a man was banging loudly and violently on the door.

When the officers arrived they knocked on the door in question and then listened quietly.

They then heard a man inside telling someone else not to open the door.

At that point the sound of silence was all that the officers did or didn’t (depending upon one’s interpretation) hear emanating from the apartment.

The officers became concerned that someone’s life might be in grave danger so they announced to whoever was inside that they would break the door in unless someone opened it.

The officers repeated this warning several times but still nobody answered the door.

The officers, their emotions stirred by the possibility of someone being in danger or distress inside the unit, then kicked the door in and entered the apartment.

They discovered a man and a woman inside, and noticed that the woman was rather drunk.

The man inside confessed that he had ordered the woman not to answer the door and as a result of that admission the officers arrested this 25-year-old Santa Monica resident and he was charged with resisting and obstructing officers.

There was no evidence of foul play inside the apartment and bail was granted in the sum of $10,000.

Editor’s Note: These reports are part of a regular police coverage series entitled “Alert Police Blotter” (APB), which injects some minor editorial into certain police activities in Santa Monica. Not all of The Mirror’s coverage of incidents involving police are portrayed in this manner. More serious crimes and police-related activities are regularly reported without editorial in the pages of the Santa Monica Mirror and its website, smmirror.com.